


Things I Almost Remember

by K1mHeechu1



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mystery, Reincarnation, Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27121837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K1mHeechu1/pseuds/K1mHeechu1
Summary: “Hey, Yong, you okay?” Taeyong gasped in shock at the voice and turned around to find himself face to face with a concerned Johnny.“I’m okay, it’s just...” He motioned at the window, “he looks familiar. He looks like someone I should know but can’t remember.”Or: Taeyong is certain he knows the man in the window. The others don't believe him.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Lee Taeyong/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 22
Kudos: 64
Collections: Challenge #2 — tricks; treats; and terrors





	Things I Almost Remember

**Author's Note:**

> If you think I ripped the title from the animated 1997 Anastasia movie, you'd be totally correct.  
> Happy reading!

“This house is creepy.” Donghyuck hid his face in Taeyong’s neck, whining softly as he hugged his older brother.

“Come on, Hyuckie, isn’t this nice? Look at how big this house is, on the ground floor alone we have enough room to live comfortably. Imagine how nice it will be when we clean up the first floor and we each get a room for ourselves! No more fighting for the bottom bunk, we all get our own beds!” Taeyong set the box he was carrying down on the table in front of him and cooed at his little brother’s pout.

“Wow, this is quite cool!” Doyoung exclaimed from somewhere in the back of the house. Taeyong and Donghyuck glanced at each other and went to see what he was talking about. 

“Hyung, you’re right! So pretty!” Jaehyun stood next to his boyfriend, eyes wide as he stared at the window in front of them.

Taeyong’s mouth fell open as he took in the scene depicted in the huge stained-glass window that seemed to cover most of the wall that separated them from the garden. It was exquisite, extremely detailed and realistic, and it came to life under the midday’s sunlight.

He couldn’t stop staring at the sakura tree depicted in the window, the way the branches seemed to be covered with delicate cherry blossoms. By the tree stood a man, dressed in old-fashioned clothes and staring to his left, as if looking at someone just outside the image that had been chosen and carefully frozen in time on the window.

“Who is that?” Taeyong asked, his voice barely louder than a whisper. 

“I’ll ask mum and dad if they know, I have no idea,” Doyoung answered and took his phone out of his pocket to take a picture of the window, “okay, let’s keep getting these boxes out of the car before Johnny-Hyung and Ten come back from the hardware store, that way we can all try to get the doors working again before dad comes back to re-inspect the house.”

“WE HAVE THE STUFF!” Johnny’s voice sounded loudly from the entrance hallway as he entered the house, making all of them sigh.

“Well, there goes that plan,” Donghyuck muttered, rolling his eyes.

“We went to the convenience store and brought back snacks!” Ten said and they could hear the rustling of plastic bags as he walked further into the house.

“Food!” Donghyuck exclaimed with a wide smile, before hurriedly making his way to the living room where their two friends were, “Ten-Hyung, have I ever told you you’re my favourite?”

Everyone headed back to the front, but Taeyong turned around before leaving the closed veranda and stared at the window again. He furrowed his eyebrows. There was something magnetic about the man on the window, he almost felt as if he was calling Taeyong’s name as if he wanted Taeyong to follow him into the scene he was forever forced to live in.

“Hey, Yong, you okay?” Taeyong gasped in shock at the voice and turned around to find himself face to face with a concerned Johnny.

“I’m okay, it’s just...” He motioned at the window, “he looks familiar. He looks like someone I should know but can’t remember.”

Johnny stared at him for a second before turning his attention to the window to inspect the stained glass.

“It’s a nice window. If you want, we can search for more information as we make our way through the things your old uncle left you guys, what do you say?” 

Taeyong smiled softly and nodded before grabbing Johnny’s hand and allowing himself to be pulled into the living room where the others were demolishing the snacks.

  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  
  


“So, let me see if I get this right: you three were so bored and obsessed about that window that you investigated and found that there’s a missing brother no one talks about in the family and no one knows why he suddenly vanishes from all records,” Johnny recounted as he played with his chopsticks.

“Don’t forget the picture,” Jaehyun added helpfully, looking around the university’s dining hall, trying to gauge his chances at going for a second slice of cheesecake.

“Right, you found a picture of your grandfather, Yunho the bachelor uncle, and another boy that looks a lot like Taeyong so you’re sure he must be someone from your family and now Yong is convinced he knows the man in the window from somewhere. Is that it?” Johnny looked at the three brothers.

“Basically. Taeyong-Hyung really really thinks he has seen that man somewhere before.” Donghyuck stared at Johnny with a pitiful look until he gave him a piece of his bread while rolling his eyes. 

“None of you believe me, do you?” Taeyong pouted, and Ten rolled his eyes, throwing a chip at his best friend, making all of them snort at Taeyong’s outraged squawk.

"Did you hear yourself? You really just said you think you know the man in the stained glass window of the house you just inherited, have never visited before moving in and have been living in for barely two weeks. C'mon, Hyung, that's impossible."

"I told him that already," Doyoung rolled his eyes, dumping a piece of spicy tofu in Jaehyun's plate, making him smile blindingly back at Doyoung, "but you know my brother, he's obsessed with History, so here he is."

"I just know there's something familiar about him, I know I've seen him before. His face is so... I know I've seen it before." Taeyong took a deep breath before looking down at his plate, playing with his food, appetite gone.

"Hey, I believe you, they're all just being mean," Johnny said, rubbing Taeyong's shoulder reassuringly, making him smile and everyone else groan.

"Of course you believe him, Hyung. Yongie-Hyung could tell you the sky is purple and you'd take it as a scientific fact." Donghyuck stuck his tongue out at Johnny, who half-heartedly glared at him in return.

"Anyway, I'm sure the missing uncle, the man that looks a lot like me in the picture we found while we investigated the first floor, and the man in the stained window are somehow related. I'm convinced." Taeyong looked so serious as he spoke, no one dared say anything to contradict him.

"Well, why don't we have a sleepover tonight, order fried chicken and Chinese food and brainstorm?" Donghyuck suggested, and everyone quickly agreed.

"Oh, I'm definitely in. I'll make Yong-Hyung realise supernatural things are just the brain playing tricks on you, today is the day!!" Ten exclaimed, before looking down at his phone and panicking, "Shit, fuck! Doyoung, run, we're late for Algebra! Bye guys, see you at the boys' house in the evening!!" 

  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  


Doyoung unlocked the door and let Ten in before locking it behind them. They both dumped their bags in the entrance hall, knackered after their double algebra class.

“Hey, anybody home?”

“Here Hyung!” 

The two of them followed Jaehyun’s voice to the living room, where they found Johnny, Donghyuck and Jaehyun playing Uno while sitting on the floor around the coffee table.

“Hey, how are you? Class was a nightmare.” Doyoung let himself fall onto the floor, leaning his body weight against his boyfriend. Jaehyun smiled widely at him, dimples forming on his cheek, before dropping a quick peck on his lips.

“We’re good. Hyuckie and I arrived after Taeyong-Hyung and Johnny-Hyung got here and we’ve been playing Uno ever since.”

“Where’s Yong-Hyung?” Ten asked, stealing a sip of coke from Johnny’s glass.

“He was basically falling asleep by the time Hyuck and Jae arrived, so we sent him to his room to take a nap, told him we’d call him for dinner if he wasn’t up by then,” Johnny explained, wrestling his glass away from Ten with a pout.

“Okay, so, who’s ready to break out the Jenga?” Doyoung asked, and Donghyuck smirked.

“You’re on, Hyungs. Get your wallets ready, I’m about to wipe them clean.”

  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  


"They won't say anything about this strange uncle we found out about," Doyoung pouted as he landed in jail again, "Uncle Yunho didn't like talking about his brother, and no one in the family ever really knew anything about him because the elders never mentioned him. So we have no idea if the other uncle really is the man in the stained window, or if it's just decoration. Anyway, they told us to stop trying to play Sherlock and focus on our lives. It's like they don't want us to learn about our family's history at all!" 

"Parents are a really strange thing. I don't think I'll ever be able to understand them," Donghyuck muttered, making Ten snort and nod.

"I know, right? Mine got divorced when I was little and they made a huge deal out of the visitation rights and my mental health, even made me go to a psychologist for months. I think they were the ones that should've gotten checked," Jaehyun said, stealing a cookie out of Doyoung's plate. "I always understood that I loved them and they loved me, each their own way."

"Our parents always made a big deal of trying to make sure I understood I'm just as much their kid as Taeyong-Hyung and Doyoung-Hyung, and being adopted doesn't make me any less part of the family, but the thing is... I never even thought that! Anyway, I'm hungry," Donghyuck whined and poked at Ten to throw the dice again.

"Speaking of hunger, where's Taeyong?" Johnny looked around, trying to find him. "It's been a while since I last heard him moving around." 

"I thought he was in his room. It's weird he didn't come out when we started playing loud music." 

Everyone suddenly quieted and shivered violently, game of monopoly forgotten. They all turned to face the end of the hall and looked through the doorway to where the notorious window was located, the faint twilight light making it hard to see the figure of the man standing next to the fountain on it.

"Let's go find him, see if he wants to have dinner," Johnny suggested, and everyone stood up, Donghyuck running towards his room.

"He's not in here. He must have gone out... but I didn't hear the front door open." He cleared his throat. "YONGIE-HYUNG! WHERE ARE YOU?"

No answer.

They checked the garden, the dining room, the kitchen... not there either.

"Must be upstairs." Ten looked at the stairs and the darkness that made it impossible to see what was at the other end of them. "There's still no electricity up there, is there?"

"Dad said they need to replace all the wiring to get it to work, the house is too old." Doyoung fished 4 candles and a flashlight out of a drawer and, armed with the small light sources, they made their way upstairs.

The staircase creaked under their weight, noise getting louder with every step, making the entire experience much more frightening.

They bumped into random furniture and forgotten boxes littered on the way but soon saw a small yellowish light coming from one of the abandoned bedrooms.

Johnny was the first one to make his way over, followed by Doyoung and Ten. Donghyuck and Jaehyun looked at each other, both absolutely terrified and rushed to catch up with the rest, not wanting to stay in the middle of the hallway surrounded by darkness.

The door had been only partially closed, and Johnny pushed it open as gently as he could, everyone else looking over his shoulder. 

All of them felt the shivers running up their spines as they took in the scene in front of their eyes.

Surrounded by a strange indescribable halo, Taeyong stood in front of the mirror that covered the entire wardrobe door, only the pale light from the candles making him visible to them.

But that wasn't their Taeyong. This was a different Taeyong, dressed in a brown three-piece suit, with a red tie around his neck, clothes that looked like they belonged in a period movie and gave him a weird sort of softness and timelessness. His face looked haunting, pale and expressionless, his eyes open wide and with a strange shine to them, almost as if they were reflecting a huge beam of light in the middle of that dimly lit room. The way the candlelight flickered made it seem like he was surrounded by ghostly figures that danced around him on another plane of existence.

The smell of old roses was all around them, the air feeling cold and humid, from a different time, one that was unknown, distant and scary.

Looking at Taeyong, one couldn't help but think his face had transformed into something else, like an overexposed picture, completely out of focus. Almost as if his features had been printed over... like the unknown uncle's face and the man from the stained glass were also right there in the room with them.

"Yongie-Hyung?" Donghyuck's choked up voice made all of them startle out of their trance as if the spell had suddenly broken and they had woken up from a collective nightmare.

Johnny rushed towards Taeyong, pulling him away from the mirror and trying to get him to look up. Taeyong took a deep, startled breath, almost as if his lungs had forgotten how breathing worked and then started crying, knees giving out, exhausted and paper-white pale.

They tried to gather their thoughts, helping him calm down and stop crying.

Taeyong shook his head, standing back up, and detaching himself from Johnny.

Johnny tried not to think about how much he had loved holding him close to his body. He couldn't think about his friend that way.

Donghyuck and Jaehyun were crying silently, Doyoung hugging both of them.

Ten, on the other hand, was ecstatic. 

"Dude, you were right! There must be some kind of connection between the forgotten uncle and the man on the stained glass. And, well, you. I totally believe you now."

Doyoung kicked Ten’s shin, making him yelp, but Taeyong laughed.

"Told you. I knew it. I've always known there are other worlds in this world. We just need to find them."

"Well, we can start looking for them tomorrow, now let's go downstairs and have dinner. And change out of that, please, those clothes scare me."

"Sure Doyoungie. I'll change downstairs, let's go."

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


The candles Taeyong had taken with him when he had entered the room remained there, forgotten as they made their way downstairs as quickly as they could.

The light flickered for a couple of seconds after a gentle breeze blew into the room, and then they went out, plunging the room back into darkness.

The air smelled like old roses once again.

**Author's Note:**

> This oneshot... might've degenerated into a fully-plotted, full-length fic that I'll have to write at some point in the future.


End file.
